Portable hover.



c A. DAMON.

PORTABLE HOVER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 24.1913. 1 995 33%. Patented Nov. 21, 1916.

9 9 Z SHEETSSHEET I 77 M66 L WW 3 C. A DAMON.

PORTABLE HUVER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.24.\913. V T n 1,265,332 Patented. Mv. 41, W16.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

bm tbcwj CHARLES A. DAMON, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GYPI-IERS INCUBA'IOR COMPANY, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PORTABLE HOVER.

Application filed March 24, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. DAMON, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Hovers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to hovers of the type in which lamps are employed as heating-means, and particularly to hovers of the self-contained or portable type, such as are adapted to be supported upon any floor or level surface and to be conveniently moved from place to place when necessary.

One object of the invention is to produce a hover in which the heating-lamp is contained within a lamp-casing which is so located as to be, for the most part, included within or below the periphery of the body of the hover, while at the same time conveniently accessible from the side of the hover.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means for ventilating the hover by a current of fresh air drawn from outside the hover and warmed by the lamp; and a third object of the invention is to provide means whereby the heated walls of the lamp-casing are guarded so as to reduce the fire-risk and also to prevent the chicks within the hover from crowding against the wall of the lamp-casing.

Other objects of the invention, and the various features of construction and arrangement by which these several objects are attained, will be set forth in connection with the following description of the illustrated embodiment of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 is a side-elevation of a hover embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 22 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a partial horizontal section on the line 44 in Fig. 3, showing parts of the lamp-casing in one operative position; and Fig. 5 is a similar view showing the parts in a different operative position.

The illustrated embodiment of the inven- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 21, 1916.

Serial No. 756,623.

upon a floor, or upon the ground, at a suitable height, it is provided with two depending legs 13, which are removably fastened by bolts 62, while a third point of support is afforded by the lamp-casing and shield hereinafter described. Throughout the greater part of its periphery the body is provided with a' curtain 14, consisting of two thicknesses of felt, or other textile material, which is secured to the lower edge of the cylindrical part 11 of the body and is slitted in the usual manner to alford convenient ingress and egress for the chicks. The air within the hover is warmed by radiation from a heating-drum or radiator 15, which is suspended from the top of the hover by means of bolts 16 and spacers 17. This radiator is supplied with hot products of combustion from the lamp through a flue 18, which enters one side of the radiator. Within the radiator is a bafIie-plate 19 which assists in the proper distribution of the heated gases, and the gases finally escape through a chimney 20. This chimney may be provided with a cap 21 and a sheet of wire-gauze 22.

The hover is shown as provided with a heating-lamp of well-known form, this lamp having a cylindrical body or oil-font 23, a burner 24 and a metal chimney 25. The lamp is inclosed within a lamp-casing comprising a cylindrical body 26 with a flat, imperforate bottom 27 and a flat top 28. The outer portion of the body 26 of the lamp-casing is cut away to provide an opening 29 through which the lamp may be conveniently introduced and removed, and this opening is accessible from the side of the hover. The top 28 of the lampcasing hasan upwardly-projecting thimble 30 which receives the chimney 25. This thimble is arranged eccentrically with respect to the body of the lamp-casing, and

the burner 24 is similarly.arranged eccentrically with respect to the body 23 of the lamp. Accordingly, the lamp, when in operation, must occupy a definite position within the lamp-casing, and the filler-cap 31 of the lamp is so located as to be inaccessible for filling the lamp when in the position so determined. From this arrangement it results that the operator will not attempt to fill the lamp while in position, but will first remove thelamp, thus avoiding the danger of spilling kerosene within the lamp-casing or of filling the lamp while it is burning.

The lamp-casing is arranged to discharge, through the nipple 30, into an air-heater comprising an upright, cylindrical body 32 and an outer, concentric, cylindrical jacket 33. The body 32 and the jacket 33 are fixed together by studs 34, and the heater is sup ported from the top of the hover by means of a bolt 35, a flanged plateor spacer 36 being interposed between the heater and the top 10 of the hover. The flue 18 is connected with the body 32 of the heater. so

as to conduct the products of combustion, discharged by the lamp-chimney, into the radiator.

The lamp-casing is removably attached to the heater by means of bolts 37 provided, at their upper ends, with hooks which engage the studs 34 and, at their lower ends, with thumb-nuts accessible from within the lamp-casing.

To close the opening 29 in the lamp-casing a door is provided in the form of a sheet-metal cylinder which fits closely, but loosely, around the body '26 of the lampcasing and engages, at its upper and lower ends, flanges projecting from the top and bottom of the casing. The door 38 has an opening 39 corresponding in size with the opening 29, and it is provided with knobs 40 by which it may be conveniently rotated upon the body 26 so as to cause the openings 29 and 39 to register when access is required to the lamp-casing. lVhen the hoveris in use the door is rotated to bring the opening 39 to a position such as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, thus closing the opening 29.

To provide for the admission of air to the lamp-casing, both to support the combustion of the lamp and to keep the oil-font cool, the door 38 is provided with two airinlet openings 41 and 42, which are covered with wire:gauze for the purpose of fire-prevention. The inflow of air may be regulated according to the temperature of the at mosphere, by changing the position of the door. In Fig. 4 the openings 41 and 42 are unobstructed, but by turning the door in the direction indicatedby the arrows in Figs. 4 and 5, one or both of the openings 41 and 42 may be brought to a position in come into registration, as shown in Fig. 5,-

thus affording an alternative path for the ingress of air to the lamp-casing. .In the practical use of the hover the operator is warned of such a condition by the emission of light from the lampcasing, so that there is little danger that the door will be carelessly left in a position in which it affords an opening to the lamp-casing other than the gauze-covered openings 41 and 42.

Before removing the lamp from the lampcasing it is necessary to raise the chimney 25 from the burner, and as a convenient means for doing this-the chimney is provided with an arm 43' which projects toward the front of the lamp-casing and has a depending portion which constitutes a handle. After the chimney has been raised by means of the handle 43 the handle may a temperature which would render it inconvenient for use. The chimney 25 1s prov1ded1w1th'the usual mica-covered sight-opening 60, and, in order that the condition of the lamp-flamemay be conveniently apparent without opening the lamp-casing, a mirror 45 is suspended, in inclined position, below the top of the lampcasing, and a glazed or mica-covered sightopening 46 is provided in the top of the lamp-casing, directly above the mirror. The

operator, by looking downwardly through reflected in the mirror 45. 7

Since the chicks tend to crowd against y surface which 1s substantially warmer than the air within the hover, and since such crowding is objectionable as sometimes it causes the chicks to besuifocated or injured,

the sight-opening 46, may see the lamp-flame I provide means by which direct contact of the chicks with the lamp-casing is prevented.

For thispurpose I employ a sheet-metal against contact-of the chicks with the lampcasing the shield also guards against fire within the hover. It is common. to sprinkle straw, or other litter, upon the surface upon which the hover is used, and the shield prevents this litter from coming directly into engagement with the hot surface of the lamp-casing within the hover.

The shield is provided with lateral flanges 48, and is removably fixed to the body of the hover by means of bolts 61 passing through the upper parts of these flanges and through the wall 11. The flanges &8 also constitute points of attachment for the ends of the curtain 1 1, where the curtain is interrupted to permit access to the lamp-casing. For this purpose the ends of the curtain are secured to the flanges by means of bolts and metal strips 49.

In addition to the functions above described the shield 47 provides effectively for a supply of warm fresh air to ventilate the hover. The air between the shield and the lamp-casing is warmed by radiation from the latter, and it rises into the space surrounding the heater above the lamp-chamber, being replaced by cold air flowing in between the lamp-casing and the lower part of the shield at the narrow openings on either side of the lamp-casing. The warm air emerges into the hover-chamber through the opening 50 in the shield through which the flue 18 passes, this'opening being made enough larger than the flue for the purpose in question. The ventilation is further promoted by the action of the heater comprising the body 32 and the jacket The air between these parts is strongly heated, and inlet-openings 51 are provided in the lower part of the jacket 33, while an opening 52 is provided in the jacket surrounding the flue 18. Accordingly, a current of air rises through the heater and mingles with the air heated between the shield and the lampcasing, being discharged at the same point into the hover-chamber. The jacketed form of the heater also prevents excessive radiation of heatto the body of the hover, the heat of the body 32 being carried off, as just described, by the air which rises between the walls of the heater.

The temperature of the hover-chamber is automatically regulated in the usual manner, the top 10 of the body being provided, for this purpose, with an air-escape opening 53 controlled by a damper 54:. This damper is actuated by connection with a thermostat 55 of well-known form.. To facilitate the escape of air through the opening 53 the radiator is provided with a central airpassage The hover may also be pro vided with the usual thermometer 57 by which the temperature of the hover-chamber may be ascertained.

The location of the lamp-casing as above described is such that access to the'lamp may be readily had from the side of the hover, while at the same time the lamp casing is located, for the most part, within the periphery of the body of the hover, thus preserving the compact, self-contained form of the device. Owing to the eccentric location of the lamp-casing, and to the use of the shield 47, the heat Within the hoverchamber is so uniformly distributed that the chicks do not tend to crowd in any particular part of the hover, and thus the danger of injury to the chicks is prevented in a manner which is well understood by those skilled in the art. Owing to the eccentric arrangement of the lamp-casing and the radiator with respect to the body of the hover, two large spaces are provided within the body, as shown in Fig. 2, either of which is large enough to contain the greater part of the lamp-casing when the latter is detached from operative position. The other of the said spaces will receive the chimney, the legs, the thermometer and the thermostatic regulator, all of which may be detached for the purpose; and accordingly the hover may be packed in very small compass and economically transported or stored.

My invention is not limited to the embodiment thereof hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but it may be embodied in various other forms within the nature of the invention as it is defined in the following claims.

I claim 1. A portable hover having, in combination, a lamp-casing comprising a cylindrical body provided with a lateral lampreceiving opening; a body located above and fixed to the lamp-casing, the casing having a portion located within the periphery of the body, and with the lamp-receiving opening directed outwardly; a radiator within the body and connected with the lamp-casing; a cylindrical door embracing and rotatably mounted upon the body of the lampcasing and provided with a lamp-receiving opening adapted to register with the opening in the body; and a curved shield inclosing the portion of the lamp-easing which is within the periphery of the body and eX- tending from the bottom to the top of the lamp-casing; the shield being formed to afford communication between its outer and inner surfaces adjacent the top of the body and to provide air inlet openings alongside the lamp-casing.

2. A hover having, in combination, a body in the form of a Wide, short cylinder; a radiator located eccentrically within the body; and heating-means connected With the radiator and located adjacent the side ofthe body most remote from the radiator;

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, jay Washington, D. G.

a ,portion of the heating-means normally located below the body being detachable 10 and adapted to fit Within a portion of the body not occupied by the radiator.

v CHARLES A. DAMON. Vitnesses: V

WILLIA R. MGCONNELL,

GRANT M. CURTIss.

addressing the Commissioner of Patents, 

